Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy was developed by Dr. Albert Ellis in the 1950's. Educators are beginning to rethink how they address behaviour in schools. Slowly we are appreciating that if students are to learn how to better manage themselves emotionally and behaviourally more successfully then REBT has a lot to offer through RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOUR EDUCATION

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Tuesday, 16 April 2013

Bully for You! - An REBT Approach to Bullying

The scenario below (*People and Emotions) can be viewed with your
students through the REBT lens. What behaviours do we notice? What are the
actions and posture of the participants?What is being conveyed non-verbally?

What roles can we identify? Who is the
victim and who is the bully? What is the third persons role?

How might the actors be feeling?What are the strength of these
emotions?

There may be common emotions shared by all
and some particular to an individual. What might the bully be feeling? What
might the bystander be feeling etc?

REBT’s ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance
teaches students that our own personally constructed philosophies about others;
the world and ourselves largely determine how we feel and behave.

Using this model invite students to suggest
what is happening in this picture. Here we identify A i.e. what happened.

Part C of the ABC Theory is how each
individual might be feeling and behaving as a consequence of A i.e. what
happened.

What may not be so obvious is B: what could
each be thinking? What are each persons constructed core beliefs and what
strength of emotion and choices of behaviour might each demonstrate in response
to A and B? Through Rational Emotive Behaviour Education students can suggest
whether an individual might be thinking in OUGHTS SHOULD or MUSTS. They might
identify an attitude of CONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE OF OTHERS in the bully i.e. people must conform to my stereotype of what
is cool or normal. If they don’t
they should be punished. They are bad. They might also suggest that the
bystander is suffering from the dire need of the bully’s approval? She must like me. I need her to like me i.e.CONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE of SELF. They also may determine that the bullied
person has issues to do with confidence. This
always happens to me. I’m such a failure. I deserve this (Conditional Self
Acceptance).

These ideas help students understand that
core beliefs are linked to the choices we make and the emotions we
experience.They are not made
solely by the situation (A) but also by the way we think about A (B). This has
implications for teaching, counselling and parenting practice.

1.Teach children Unconditional
Self Acceptance. This helps students maintain the belief that they are always
worthwhile despite the negative attitudes and opinions of others

2.Teach children Unconditional
Acceptance of Others. This helps students develop the attitude that its OK to
be different and that others don’t have to THINK and ACT like they do.

The message is clear as evidenced in the
recent research findings of Giulio Bortolozzo and Ken Rigby (referenced below):

1.Self - Accepting students have
a high degree of immunity to the slings and arrows of bullies. They are also
less likely to be bullied as they project a sense of confidence about
themselves.

2.People who Accept Others are
less likely to want to bully others. They may not like a behaviour or a quality
of a person and can choose not to associate with her but their total worth is
not at question.

REBT is delivered to all children across
all year levels at the Whyalla REBE